


Listen To Me

by JMount74



Series: Febuwhump [9]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Gen, mentions of injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-14 23:53:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29675199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JMount74/pseuds/JMount74
Summary: Scott's not too good at listening when he's injured...never has been.
Series: Febuwhump [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2137590
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	Listen To Me

**Author's Note:**

> For sugar-fiend who asked for Whump prompt 100: ‘Goddamn it, kid, don’t you ever listen? Stay still, let me stop the bleeding, okay?’ with Scott and Jeff.
> 
> And Febuwhump prompt 13: Hiding an injury

Jeff and Lucy had not been prepared.

Sure, once they found out they were expecting an addition to their family they had done their homework and done their best to child-proof the apartment they lived in and had bought lots of books.

They felt prepared.  
They were not.

He was an eating, pooping and throwing up machine that had the most amazingly loud set of lungs. They thought that they were prepared for the screaming. Nothing prepared them for this. Thankfully, this stage only lasted around six months, and Lucy swore she was not going to have any more children it they were all going to be like Scott.

When Scott was eight months old, before Jeff returned to space, they moved out of the apartment block and into a town house. They went through the rigmarole of Scott-proofing the house, not that they knew what he would be up to, but the kid was already walking with the assistance of the furniture – almost two months earlier than the books they had read said he should.

He was into everything. Anything that could be grabbed and squeezed and bitten then Scott had done just that. That first Christmas was an absolute nightmare for the couple. Trying to stop Scott eating the tree, eating the glittery decorations, eating the wrapped presents wore them out, and both were delighted that Jeff’s mom had offered to stay for a few weeks until Jeff was due to leave, then take Lucy and Scott back to the farmhouse. 

Ruth took care of Scott for the next week, and her expert eye and attention allowed the couple to have some precious alone time before they were separated. They made the most of the time to sleep.

Jeff left in mid-January for a six-month stint on Alpha Base on the moon, and the couple talked once a week. One month into his rotation and Lucy had news. She was pregnant. They really had made the most of those weeks, and the baby would be due in October, when Scott would be only 18 months.

Jeff’s reply was that at least the house was Scott-proofed, so the new baby should be fine. Lucy would have hit him with a pillow if he had been on Earth. Instead, she contented herself with an eye roll and a fervent wish that this baby would not be loud like Scott.

By the time Jeff returned to Earth Scott was 15 months and talking. He was also running and climbing, and Lucy exclaimed that she didn’t need a fitness class, keeping up with Scott was hard enough. She had a nice size bump, not quite as big as Scott had been, but with only three months to go Lucy was progressing nicely.

Jeff soon found out that Scott could climb the stairs. And the furniture. And that an eighteen-month-old child could actually outrun him, given half the chance. Trying to grab Scott so that they could get to the hospital had been harder work than Jeff thought possible.

John was so polar opposite to Scott that his parents worried something was wrong with him. He was quiet. He slept all the time. All the time. Scott was smitten with his brother and quietened down a lot noise-wise, but he was still extremely active. By the time John was three months old and they found out they were going to be parents again – and wasn’t that a surprise – Scott had started jumping. 

If Scott could climb it then he jumped off it. It seemed their firstborn was a little bit of a daredevil and adrenaline junkie before he’d even reached his second birthday, and no matter how many times his parents sat him down and told him not to climb on things and jump off, he turned those vibrant blue eyes on them and smiled, and they melted. It didn’t stop Scott.

By the time Virgil was born the conversations had taken on a serious turn. Two days before Virgil’s due date Scott had decided to climb up onto the couch and jump off. Usually this wasn’t a problem as they had moved the coffee table so that he couldn’t land on it. Or so they thought.

Jeff had just got home from work in time to witness Scott take a flying leap of the back of the couch. Before he could even process that it was the back, not the front, and they hadn’t thought about that, Scott was on the floor, unmoving. Behind the couch was the bookcase and, judging from the cut on Scott’s forehead that was now bleeding, he must have hit one of the shelves.

Jeff picked his son up and carried him to the kitchen table. Setting Scott down, he was relieved that he was responsive as Scott looked up at his father, a question in his eyes. It was the first time Scott had really hurt himself, and Jeff was surprised that there were no tears.

Lucy passed him the first aid kit as Jeff sat Scott up. Getting Scott to sit still while he was cleaning the wound was another matter, his son determined to jump down and Jeff determined that he wouldn’t, asking him several times to sit still.

‘Goddamn it, kid, don’t you ever listen? Stay still, let me stop the bleeding, okay?’ Scott stilled. It was the tone of voice that did it, and Jeff filed that piece of information away for next time. He was positive it would not be the last time.

It was not. Over the next few years as they all grew up Jeff learnt to hone his ‘listen to me’ voice. Mostly on Scott. And then even more frequently with Gordon. All his boys recognised that voice meant business.

He thought that once his boys had grown up and moved out into the wide world that his need to use ‘the voice’ would diminish, but with the formation of International Rescue ‘the voice’ came back into play big time.

Even when he stopped going out on rescues he still needed the voice. Especially on Scott, who frequently refused to seek medical attention if he thought he could get away with it, despite his father insisting that Virgil see all injuries, no matter how small.

Today was no different. Virgil had called ahead to say that Scott had been caught by falling debris but had insisted he was alright and gone on ahead in One. As usual, his Field Commander had not listened to the correct procedures, hiding any injury his younger brothers could see, so Jeff was going to be ready. By the time his son had cleared the gantry Jeff was almost there, and he was acutely aware that Scott was swaying slightly.

He didn’t quite make it. Instead, he watched Scott fold up in front of him, reaching him in time to just catch his head. Shouting for Brains to bring a stretcher, he murmured nonsense to Scott while he looked him over. Sure enough, there was a red stain spreading from just above his right knee.

They transferred Scott to the infirmary and set about cutting his uniform off and cleaning up the wound. There was a jagged cut, and Jeff marvelled that his son could walk on it, let alone fly with it. Scott came round as Jeff was beginning to dress it, and immediately he was trying to get up, protesting that it was a tiny hole that didn’t need bandaging.

‘Goddamn it, kid, don’t you ever listen? Stay still, let me stop the bleeding, okay?’ Scott stilled. The voice told him he was in for an ear bashing, and judging from the reaction, he’d probably get some from Virgil too. He swore there was nothing wrong when he left the scene, but his dad just looked at him.

He was in the doghouse again.


End file.
